New comedy starts tomorrow

Press, 2 June 1982, Page 22

New comedy starts tomorrow

Bill Maynard has dropped his familiar “Selwyn” image, created by Yorkshire Television’s successful “Oh No It’s Selwyn Froggitt” and “Selwyn,” to become a bearded ■ factory boss, Fred Moffat, the quick-witted, down-to-earth head of a rundown, light-engineering works. Maynard stars in a new six-episode situation comedy series, “The Gaffer,” starting on One on Thursday at 8 p.m. Moffat Engineering is the sort of firm where the amount of engineering that takes place on the shop floor depends largely on the amount of "engineering” that goes on in the office of the managing director — otherwise known as “The Gaffer.” “The Gaffer” has to be quick-witted, crafty, conspir-

ing and even occasionally devious as he contends with a small but militant labour force wanting more money and cheeseparing clients wanting fewer and cheaper orders — not to mention bureaucracy wanting more paper work and bank managers wanting smaller overdrafts. On top of all that Fred has his share of domestic difficulties. “The Gaffer” was written by Graham White, a director of a small, light-engineering firm in Derby. The setting and theme of “The Gaffer,” Graham White admits, are- very much related to hiS own story - with a certain amount of exaggeration. His own family concern, Allen White and Sons, Ltd,

sheet metal workers and welders, has had much the same sort of situations and problems to contend with, not to mention some similar

characters, since. Graham’s father founded the business in the 19205. Today, like many other small firms grappling with the recession, Allen White and Sons has come closer to the industrial brinkmanship which is the hallmark of Moffat Engineering as • it struggles to survive. Graham’s firm, which employs five craftsmen and a - seeretary/book-keeper besides his elder brother — a fellow director — has been on a four-day week since last October. Graham, 57 and born in Derbyshire, says the humour in his scripts stems from his days as a free-lance cartoonist — “a profitable hobby before the market dropped out of it" — when he drew cartoons and strips for some

of the national daily newspapers. “There’s a lot of North Midland humour in the scripts, particularly of the type one finds in engineering firms like mine,” he says. “It is a humour of its own — sharp and dry-bred, delivered in a deadpan, unsmiling way that makes one wonder if a joke is intended at ail until one starts ,to think about it. "The Gaffer" also features' Scottish actor, Russell Hunter — probably best known for his performance as “Lonely,” the small-time burglar in the TV series, “Callan” — as shop steward Harry, and Pat Ashton as Fred’s long-suffering secretary, Betty. The series was produced and directed by Alan Tarrant.